oracle
09-20-2002, 07:26 PM
Court rejects Torricelli's attempt to keep Chang sentencing memo secret
By DAVID B. CARUSO
<font size=1>Associated Press Writer
September 20, 2002, 7:12 PM EDT</font>
PHILADELPHIA -- A government memo outlining the criminal misdeeds of a man who made illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Robert G. Torricelli is not subject to grand jury secrecy rules and may be released to the public, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the New Jersey Democrat's attempt to have the document sealed, saying whatever damage it might do to his reputation was not significant enough to override the public's right to see it.
The memo, filed with a federal judge in New Jersey in May, outlines the government's dealings with David Chang, who was a key witness in the government's now-dropped investigation of Torricelli and who is now serving an 18-month jail term for making illegal contributions to the senator in 1996.
Torricelli was never charged, but a Senate ethics committee reprimanded him, and the issue has been central in his re-election campaign against Republican Douglas Forrester.
Lawyers for Torricelli and the Justice Department had filed motions asking for either some or all of Chang's sentencing memorandum to be sealed, saying that revelation of material from the memo would violate Torricelli's privacy.
...
Here's a link to the story - ...http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--torricelli-chang0920sep20(0,3572472).story?coll=ny%2Dap%2Dreg ional%2Dwire
UBB won't let me post it as a hyperlink because of the parenthesis in the URL.
By DAVID B. CARUSO
<font size=1>Associated Press Writer
September 20, 2002, 7:12 PM EDT</font>
PHILADELPHIA -- A government memo outlining the criminal misdeeds of a man who made illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Robert G. Torricelli is not subject to grand jury secrecy rules and may be released to the public, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the New Jersey Democrat's attempt to have the document sealed, saying whatever damage it might do to his reputation was not significant enough to override the public's right to see it.
The memo, filed with a federal judge in New Jersey in May, outlines the government's dealings with David Chang, who was a key witness in the government's now-dropped investigation of Torricelli and who is now serving an 18-month jail term for making illegal contributions to the senator in 1996.
Torricelli was never charged, but a Senate ethics committee reprimanded him, and the issue has been central in his re-election campaign against Republican Douglas Forrester.
Lawyers for Torricelli and the Justice Department had filed motions asking for either some or all of Chang's sentencing memorandum to be sealed, saying that revelation of material from the memo would violate Torricelli's privacy.
...
Here's a link to the story - ...http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--torricelli-chang0920sep20(0,3572472).story?coll=ny%2Dap%2Dreg ional%2Dwire
UBB won't let me post it as a hyperlink because of the parenthesis in the URL.